Nursery-propogated native plants of the Eastern U.S. for home and community gardeners. We are a retail-only, mail-order nursery; no web sales. Purchases are by cash or check only; no credit cards accepted.
Fall 2008 Open House
Saturday, September 13 - 10 am to 5 pm
Sunday, September 14 - 11 am to 5 pm
No appointments necessary
Fall is a great time to plant! Take advantage of cooler weather to visit the nursery and pick up plants, ideas, and tips for a satisfying, sustainable landscape.
The Nursery is located at 7011 South Flint Hill Road in Owings, MD. For driving directions and further information, please email contact@lowermarlboronursery.com, or call 301-812-0808.
The Fall 2008 Catalog is now available. Order shipping and nursery sales will commence again in September. Meanwhile, email comments and inquiries are always welcome.
Please note that all sales are by cash or check only; no credit cards accepted.
Fall 2008 Newsletter
Dear Gardener,
Green! Green! Green, green, green! There, I have jumped on the bandwagon. By virtue of loudly repeating the latest buzzword, you now know that my ecological credentials are impeccable, my environmental responsibility cannot be impugned, and my heart is sustainably in the right place.
Hmmmm. Would it were that simple. Even if it does seem currently that a lot of big corporations are convinced they can greenwash themselves into trendy environmental heros overnight, the reality of trying to change long established practices—and even more, long established attitudes—is a very difficult thing. It really “isn't easy being green.”
The “Green Industry”, which is what nursery growers, wholesalers, rewholesalers, garden centers, landscapers, etc. like to call themselves as a group, seems a little bemused by all the hullabaloo. Its constituents have been used to thinking of themselves as the Green Industry—and now everyone's trying to claim the label—and claiming to be an authority on what it means. Who knows what's really green anymore?
Well, plants are green, certainly—in fact, they're the sole source of all green—but their growing and marketing is sometimes less so. To choose one example, a current marketing trend in the Green Industry that I find irritating is “branding”: seemingly an effort to get buyers to view a particular line of Petunias, say, as the Louis Vuittons or Manolo Blahniks of the Petunia world. It seems to me that the primary result is a glut of garishly colored and patterned, logo-plastered containers that are often not recyclable, excess packaging to be stripped off and thrown away, and large, colorful plastic labels that will quickly fall off and be lost, but will keep turning up in the soil for decades to come. This is green?
At present there seem to be two factors that push businesses, and individuals, to become genuinely greener: government regulation and rising expenses. The former is slow, cumbersome, and often runs into political or practical stumbling blocks when it comes to enforcement. The latter certainly gets our attention both as sellers and buyers, but in a reactive fashion. Cost effective or restrictive policies are rarely instituted proactively—we keep doing things the same old way until we start to feel it in the wallet.
What really needs to change is attitude. Being green will never be a reality while it's merely a PR tool or a forced reaction to circumstances. Being green needs to be the goal, for all of us, and our actions and policies should go in the other direction: Not, how can we keep on doing what we've always done and yet make it be, or at least seem, greener? But rather, how can we be green and yet maintain, or enhance, our environment and our lives?
No, it's not easy being green, but it's increasingly vital to our world.
Meanwhile, my own plants are as green as I can keep them in a very dry August. There are a few new ones in the list, and a number back in stock. Check out the Md. Golden Aster ( Chrysopsis mariana); it's perfectly at home in dry soil, as are Anise Hyssop ( Agastache foeniculum) and Yunnan Catchfly ( Lychnis yunnanensis). The Trumpet Honeysuckle ( Lonicera sempervirens) is rejoicing in our long succession of sunny days. Or, if you're up in New England and have seen far too much rain this summer, consider Purple-headed Sneezeweed ( Helenium flexuosum), Dwarf Jacob's Ladder ( Polemonium reptens), or the Lobelias ( L. cardinalis and L. siphilitica)—they like lots of water. The Heucheras 'Dale's Strain' or 'Autumn Bride', Hardy Begonia ( Begonia grandis), and Toad Lily ( Tricyrtis) will ornament shady areas. There are lots of green possibilities and I hope you will find something that will help make your own corner of the world a greener one.
Happy gardening!
Mary-Stuart Sierra
Note: unlike the paper catalog, trees and shrubs are not listed separately on-line. All plants are arranged alphabetically by scientific name.